Category: DIY

A few years ago, I wrote an article on homemade PCB which is useful to quickly prototype a PCB and produce them at low cost. However, things can get a bit more challenging once you need to produce a bigger dimension PCB or in high quantity or even making it double sided. It is not a mission impossible, but it requires extra effort. Recently, I wanted to play with a RGB LED matrix, which requires some kind of driver to light it up. To prototype it, I can do them on breadboard, but that will be troublesome with all the jumpers going around. So, I decided that this is also a good opportunity for me to try something different, which is to design and manufacture a PCB for the RGB LED Matrix driver. Continue reading “Manufactured my first PCB”→

This would probably be a late update of my visit to Penang International Science Fair and the first ever Penang Mini Maker Faire which happened last month, 15 and 16 of November. Both of these events are held at Subterranean Penang International Convention and Exhibition Centre (SPICE), formally known as PISA.

During my third year studying electronics engineering, I have made a wall following robot for the course EEE 351 Advanced Laboratory. This mini project is done in a team of four. For this project, we are required to apply control system theory into application, which lead us into making the wall following robot. As the name sounds, the robot’s main objective is to follow the wall within a target distance. In order to maintain certain distance from the wall, this is where we applied a digital controller, which is the PID controller. PID controller stands for Proportional, Integral and Derivative Controller which is used to calculate the error between the measured and desired set point and attempts to minimize the error. For more information about PID controller, have a look at Wiki. Continue reading “Wall Following Robot”→

I had think of making a game on Arduino quite a while. An idea strikes to my mind while I was playing a quite popular game which is available on apps and pc, 2048. 2048 is actually a game created by Gabriele Cirulli, aged 19, Itallian web developer. The objective of this game is to slide the tiles and combine them to create the tile of 2048. Source: Wiki

Previously I have made a colour sensor using Arduino but don’t have the time to update it on my blog. Today I am going to share the details of this mini project. Basically, the sensor consists of three LEDs and Light Dependent Resistor (LDR). The LDR will detect the colour and display it to another RGB LED. Besides display it on the RGB LED, the colour will also display on PC. RGB LED is commonly used in display colours on LCD or OLED such as the monitor and television. Continue reading “Colour Sensor”→

While I was free during my holiday, I decided to make a simple Arduino Piano playing musical notes. Playing musical notes is quite simple with the Arduino built in function Tone(). Overall this project’s difficulty should be easy. Another reason I wanted to make this mini project, is to make a piano with 12 keys, but using lesser amount of pins. Continue reading “Arduino Piano”→

I was always fascinated with LED Matrix Display because it makes a good and clear display. I always saw LED display used as advertisement signboard. It can be programmed with variety of animations. So I decided to make myself a 48×8 LED Matrix Display. Of course, I start off with a smaller one by soldering LEDs on stripboard, making a 8×8 LED Matrix. I tried to understand how the LED Matrix works and how to deal with the programming part. Continue reading “Development of 48×8 Led Matrix Display”→

I often use Arduino to test out my project prototype before complete it. Sometimes, I wanted to test more than one project at the same time. I would need more Arduino, but the original Arduino is over my budget for prototyping purpose. Therefore, I decided to make my own Arduino. Some of the benefits of making your Arduino (at least for me) are it is cheap, easy, learn to design PCB and electronics at the same time. Although there are a lot of guides on how to make your own Arduino, I decided to make one so as I can share with my readers, and at the same time document it for myself. Continue reading “Build your own Arduino Uno”→

Previously I made an article on how to make your own PCB at home using toner transfer method. In that article I am using magazine paper to transfer the toner to the PCB. The results of using magazine paper is satisfying for simpler circuit, at least for my case. However, when working with more complex circuit, its getting tougher. So today I am going to show a better method to make your own PCB, which is using toner transfer paper. Toner transfer paper can be obtained very cheap from China seller, so I think its quite affordable for hobbyists who wants to make their PCB at home.